Latest related coverage

Indigenous Australians were big winners in last week's budget, but
when photojournalist Meredith O'Shea travelled through Aboriginal
communities in outback Queensland she saw that help could not come
quickly enough.

TREASURER Peter Costello's announcement that, for the first
time, Aborigines will be offered title to their own homes under a
$700 million indigenous housing package, seems beyond the dreams of
the families of Yarrabah.

The community, established as a mission 120 years ago
and with a floating population of about 3000, is just 50 minutes
south of Cairns, depending on what time of year you travel.
For the Aboriginal families who live here, though,
mainstream Australia seems a long way off.

Driving in from the highway, there are glimpses of the
coastline's raw beauty from the potholed, corrugated dirt road. But
there is little to find that is beautiful in Yarrabah itself.

It's the smell that hits you first: a pungent cocktail of
decaying rubbish, damp and the ocean salt, which leaves chalky
white splatters on the few possessions the people have.

The houses are little more than tin sheds and each accommodates
two, sometimes three, big families. It's a reality that sees as
many as 25 people sharing each ramshackle space. With no sewerage
system, a "thunderbox'' toilet perched under a lean-to of
corrugated iron sheets has to be emptied daily. On a hot day, the
stench is almost unbearable.

Today, though, it is cold. With no running water inside the
homes, washing the children means a squirt from a hose.

A little girl is naked on the dirt, the red earth splashing back
against her legs as she squeals her discomfort.

Some nights, her mother boils water on the campfire and pours it
into the bathtub inside, but with so many children to bathe,
the simple pleasure of warm water is too difficult to deliver to
all.

Nearby, at the Bama Ngappi Ngappi Community Centre, the sense of
pride among the families who live here is obvious, despite their
surroundings.

The gardens, though basic, are tended and the results of a
recent pottery class add a splash of colour to the otherwise
drab interior.

Teenage boys kick a football between makeshift goalposts between
the trees.

The dream of playing professional rugby league might just take
them away from here. Some girls watch them but don't join in. For
them, maybe there is no point pretending.

Back at the settlement, the women sweep the dirt away and rake
the leaves that blow into the tiny dwellings. They'll do it
again tomorrow, but it never seems to make a difference.

With poor or non-existent drainage, and the moisture seeping
through the holes in the worn lino flooring, every step leaves
a damp footprint.

There is no mains power but, thanks to a generator and with
the darkening ocean as a backdrop, the families gather around
the television to watch the latest instalment of a US police
drama.

The polished production and drawling accents mingle
strangely with the sounds of the bush. Inside, three sisters
pore over a jigsaw spread across the kitchen table.

Some of the pieces are missing but they're trying anyway.
There's not much else to do in Yarrabah.

Not far away, there are many other communities just like
this one.

Overcrowding is a growing issue. In the shanty towns that
have sprung up on the edge of the mission settlement, the adults
fear the threat of bulldozers and the reality that one day they
might not be able to provide even a tin roof over their children's
heads.

Edgar Harris has lived in the area for more than 40 years. He
doesn't ask for much. ``I want my children not getting sick any
more,'' he says.

For him, election year budgets and the glossy promises of a
bright indigenous future for Australia sound like many other
promises made by politicians out to impress voters.

SPONSORED LINKS

Latest related coverage

1178899159711-smh.com.auhttp://www.smh.com.au/news/national/hopes-dreams-and-lofty-government-promises/2007/05/12/1178899159711.htmlsmh.com.auThe Sun-Herald2007-05-13Hopes, dreams and lofty government promisesIndigenous Australians were big winners in last week's budget, but
when photojournalist Meredith O'Shea travelled through Aboriginal
communities in outback Queensland she saw that help could not come
quickly enough.Nationalhttp://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/05/12/yarrabah13507_wideweb__470x305,0.jpg

At Yarrabah Aboriginal Mission, two or three families - sometimes
up to 25 people - share each house, which are little more than tin
sheds.